Melamchi water being distributed to households in Kathmandu Valley from today

Published On: December 9, 2022 11:55 AM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, Dec 9: From today, water is being distributed to the capital through the tunnel at Ambathan, the origin of the Melamchi River located in Helambu Rural Municipality-1 of Sindhupalchok.

At the last point of the tunnel located in Gokarneshwor Municipality-1, the water that arrived on December 4 was initially supplied into Bagmati River to clean the tunnel. Engineer Ram Chandra Paudel of Melamchi Water Supply Project said the water was first released to Bagmati to clean the garbage collected in the tunnel which was closed in mid-June earlier this year. The tunnel was filled again with water from December 5.

Poudel said that the water filled in the tunnel for a few days has been sent to the Mahankal Chaur branch since Thursday. Last week, the Melamchi Water Supply Development Committee sent water to the tunnel from the spring in Ambathan located in the Helambu Rural Municipality of Sindhupalchok following the repair of an access road damaged by the rains.

Since the tunnel has been closed since June, a limited quantity of water has been sent as a test at the beginning. This water arrived at Sundarijal, the last point of the tunnel in Kathmandu, within a week. Starting today, 175 million liters of water will be pumped into the tunnel every day, said Rajendra Pant, the spokesperson of the Melamchi Project.

The tunnel was initially cleaned by the water poured into it from Sunday evening. KUKL Implementation Directorate is building a distribution network for water distribution. Through this network, the residents of the capital will get Melamchi water again from today.

The supply of Melamchi's water was closed earlier in June after floods caused severe damage to the tunnel. Melamchi water temporarily reached the capital in March 2021.

The Melamchi water was brought to the capital for the second time in March, 2022 after the river structure and access road were damaged due to the flood that occurred on June 15, 2021.

As the construction of headwork at Melamchi's spring has not been completed, Melamchi's water is likely to arrive in the capital only during winter season. Roshan Pokharel, a consumer rights activist, said that since the Melamchi water supply project, which has reached its final stage after spending billions of money, the residents of the capital are in a situation to ask if the water is now reaching them on a permanent basis.